Thanks to a vicious attack on a young woman in Commons Park last year the Denver Parks and Recreation is instituting a system of advanced camera footage to be placed in numerous state and national parks. This was initiated after a 9News investigative reporter known as Jeremy Jojola was able to catch on tape a young man beating the crap out of a woman. Jojola yelled at the man,

An assault on a woman was allegedly occurring when Jojola felt the need to intervene. He wrote the entire ordeal on his personal blog. As a reporter, he immediately began to record the incident. As the attack continued he screamed at the attacker who was in the process of pinning the woman to the ground.

In the video, he can be heard saying,

“Hey. Hey, god damn it. You get the fuck off of her right now before I fu – I’m gonna fucking knock your god damn dick in the dirt.”

The video led to the assailant being charged with misdemeanor assault. The assailant was a man named Simplicio Mendez-Santos. The journalist who took the video however even apologized for what he called unnecessary levels of douchey comments on his video.

The President of the Riverfront Park Association, Don Cohen, said that the loss of privacy due to video surveillance is just a small price to pay for the safety they gain in the quickly developing urban areas this attack took place in.

“I debated with myself about posting this story and the raw video (see the bottom of this post) because, admittedly, I act a bit douchey in the footage and this incident happened nearly a year ago. However, with news the city is installing cameras to monitor crime at Denver parks, I felt compelled to put this incident out there, especially now since this case remains active in the justice system.”

He went on,

“In short, I came upon a man attacking a woman at Denver’s Commons Park last June and I got involved. I was spat on, police came and they eventually arrested the dude. The attacker is Simplicio Mendez-Santos, 19, who has been charged with misdemeanor assault and is currently wanted on a warrant.”

Jojola noted he came across the attack while he was walking his dog at the park. That is when he came across the defendant putting the young woman in a headlock. Simplicio spit on him after he was spewing profanities at him. But thanks to his intervention the girl was able to get up and walk away.

A warrant for his arrest has been placed out for Simplicio because he failed to appear in court for his designated time. Turns out that Simplicio had another failure to appear on his record from a prior incident and was later arrested three months after the attack for a separate attack.

The reporter was quick to note the cameras likely wouldn’t have helped in his situation because the attack took place behind a brick wall but argued he hopes that it will deter violent crime in the future in cases where there isn’t a someone there to intervene. It is unknown what further precautions if any they will be taking to prevent future incidents like this from occurring. But this attack proves they should be taking many.

This criminal has some nerve yelling, screaming, spitting, and shouting at the man protecting the woman he assaulted. Who would have thought someone doing the right thing would result in such behavior. It’s shocking!

Why is it that in our criminal justice system people like this are let go and fall through the cracks time and time again. Every time they aren’t let go the public is placed in more danger from these unruly criminals. The American people deserve better. We deserve a judicial system that places people like this behind bars and away from civilized society.

We should not have to wait for innocent bystanders like this to have to come along and video tape an attack in order for action to be taken. Even when action is taken the perpetrator isn’t always forced to pay for the consequence of his actions. Seeing as he is walking free and on the lam. This is embarrassing and shameful.

Join the conversation!

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.